Today’s Biomaterials Testing and Characterization

Biological materials, both natural and engineered, are inherently multifaceted. As such, the biomaterials that make up one individual will not have the exact same mechanical properties as those that make up another. Given the natural variability in biological tissues—such as bone, tendons, ligaments, and hair—achieving consistent and repeatable metrics to effectively characterize the mechanical properties of a biomaterial may be challenging. In the physical materials testing industry, biomaterials can generally be broken down into two categories: soft and hard tissues. Mechanical characterization of both natural and engineered biomaterials is usually achieved using a combination of both static and fatigue testing.